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New downtown Macon live music venue, bar opens this weekend

JBA is located on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and is owned and managed by Brandon Lawler

MACON, Ga. — There will soon be a new venue for Macon's musicians and singers to take their talents to.

JBA, downtown Macon's newest live music venue and bar, is hosting its grand opening weekend starting on First Friday. 

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The bar is located in the old La Bella Morelia building on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Owner and Manager Brandon Lawler says they've been working hard on the place since they got the keys back in February.

"Early on for the first couple of months, it was long days, 12-hour days, staying until midnight and whatnot," Lawler said. "But I mean now it's worth it. Back then it was difficult, yeah it was a lot of work, but it was necessary. I wanted the place to look different. If you've been to La Bella, I wanted you to walk and not look familiar at all. So I knew a lot of work was involved in making that happen."

On both First Friday and Saturday, if you leave a positive review on Facebook or Google and show it to him or a bartender, you'll get $2 off your tab total.

Lawler is a musician himself and says he's excited to provide a platform to the local music scene.

"Just being able to promote people in Macon who are making music now, who are very talented, but it's hard to get noticed I guess, or just find a stage to play on, because maybe you're a single singer-songwriter and you're not a full band, so just another avenue for music musicians to get on stage and play in front of some people," he said.

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As far as performers go for Friday, David Dingess and the duo Mitch Harrell & Madison Rutledge will be out there, and on Saturday Hughes Taylor will take the stage. Down the road, he's already booked shows with James Worsham and the Delta Moan.

Grand opening weekend will take place Friday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Saturday from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Music starts around 8 p.m., entry is free, and the bar is located at 499 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

If you're a band or artist interested in performing at JBA, you can message Lawler personally here. You can also find JBA on Facebook and Instagram.

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